


Hallelujah

by starlightfirelight



Category: Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: Break Up, Break up sex, Crying, Keene Act, M/M, Moving Out, Post-Roche, Riots, This Was Fun to Tag, Transient Alcohol Abuse as Coping Mechanism, brief sex scene, heat wave, not a songfic, probably not canon compliant, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 11:27:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11827788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightfirelight/pseuds/starlightfirelight
Summary: On a hot night in 1977, congress passes a law banning costumed vigilantism, and Rorschach gives Dan an ultimatum.





	Hallelujah

The summer of '77 is hot enough even without the fires that rage across the city. The police strike continues, and the riots with it, and not even Manhattan can fix this now.

Daniel's brownstone is safe; it's in a good neighborhood, and if his rich, liberal hypocrite neighbors are protesting, they're doing it elsewhere. The window is open, the gentle breeze from outside doing little to cool the room. Even here, the air is smoky. A fan whirs in the corner, rustling clothing slung over a chair.

Congress has entered an emergency session. The radio chatters in the background. Rorschach can hardly hear it over the sound of his own desperate moans. He has his arms wrapped around Daniel's neck and his legs around his waist, fighting to hold on, their bodies slippery with sweat.

"Don't stop," he pleads.

"I won't, buddy, I won't."

Daniel kisses his jawline and the crook of his neck, licking the sweat from his skin. Rorschach arches his back and grips the sheets with one hand as Daniel pounds into him hard. They come together, the same creature for one brief moment, their climax drowning out everything else.

When it ends, he feels as if he is alone.

Sirens wail in the distance. The breeze has stopped, the air now still and stifling. Daniel cleans himself up and hands the towel to Rorschach, who does the same once he is able to muster the strength. They hold each other, shared body heat almost too much to bear even without the fervor of their rutting, and listen to the radio.

The Keene act has passed.

~*~

Dan's kitchen is the hottest room in the house. It barely registers. Rorschach watches in silence as he pours the drinks: a rum and coke that's mostly rum; scotch for himself, both on the rocks.

"So." Dan stares down into his drink, ice clinking as he swirls it around in the glass, and wonders if maybe he is turning into his father after all.

Rorschach takes a sip of his rum and coke, grimacing.

"Sorry man. I figured you'd want something a little stronger tonight, but if you don't like it I can--"

"Fine like this."

Dan doesn't know what to say next, so he stares out the window and drinks until Rorschach breaks the silence.

"Can't quit."

"I don't expect you to. I--"

"Not me. You."

Dan sighs. "You know me, buddy. I might bend the rules sometimes, but I don't break them. And something like the Keene act... well, there's no way I can go on doing this now."

"Don't stop," Rorschach pleads.

"I'm sorry. I can't. I'm so sorry."

He manages to duck just in time, glass shattering behind him.

~*~

"We can still be together." Daniel removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I mean, if that's what you want."

And it is, but principles are more important.

"Your choice."

"My choice?"

"You quit, I leave. You don't, I stay."

Rorschach already knows how this is going to end.

~*~

"This is it, then. You're really leaving."

"Can still stop me."

And Dan wants to, he really does, but principles are more important.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that."

Rorschach's things are packed. He wouldn't let Dan help him. He's dressed in civilian clothes, holding his suitcase, a hand on the doorknob.

"Where will you go?

"Find a place."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here until--"

"No."

Dan tries not to worry too hard. He tries not to tear up. "I'm always here if you need anything." He extends his hand.

Rorschach snorts. "Goodbye, Daniel."

He turns the doorknob, glancing back over his shoulder at Dan before walking out into the night without so much as a handshake. Dan can't do anything but watch him leave.

Upstairs, the radio is still blaring. Dan takes in the good news, bottle of scotch in hand. The cops are back on the streets already, rounding up the strays and opportunists. He swigs from the bottle as the weatherman forecasts an end to the heat wave and the mayor promises power will soon be restored to the Lower East Side.

When the news broadcast is over he fiddles with the dial, looking for a station that still plays sad songs, and drinks himself to sleep wondering what he's going to do with his life now.

~*~

For once, the city is that never sleeps is quiet and calm; an animal momentarily subdued with tranquilizers and a shock collar. Rorschach keeps his head down as he passes the stragglers, no face to hide his tears, reeking of fear and vice. There are no chanting crowds within earshot, and no sirens.

"Fire gone out," he mutters.

He still doesn't know where he's going, but he'll get by. He always has.


End file.
